Debater Awards

Baker Award

The team with the highest point total using the qualification system that attends the NDCA Championships will be awarded The David P. Baker Award for Season Long Excellence. To be considered for this award a team must have debated together at all five tournaments used for qualification.

Dukes and Bailey Cup

The Dukes and Bailey Cup is given annually to the Lincoln Douglas debater attending the NDCA National Tournament who has accumulated the highest qualifying point total in his or her top five tournament placements during the year. NDCA qualifying points are calculated based on the elim & prelim records of the debaters, weighted according to the size and geographical diversity of the tournament's field. Any tournament can count towards qualifying points. The Dukes & Bailey Cup in LD Debate is named for two of the foremost coaches in LD history, who are together most responsible for forging LD debate into a distinct, national-level competitive event.

Marilee Dukes of Vestavia Hills High School is recognized by many as the most successful Lincoln-Douglas Debate coach in the history of the event. She was the first person to coach two National Champions in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the same school. Dukes coached champions of the Glenbrooks, the New York City Invitational (Bronx Science), and the MBA, Bronx, and Glenbrook Round Robins; her debaters won St. Mark's two times, the Barkley Forum (Emory) three times, and Wake Forest five times. She also coached twelve champions of the Homewood Patriot Classic. She coached debaters to finals at the Tournament of Champions a still-unmatched six times; Vestavia twice took home the championship twice and the top speaker award three times.

Dukes and her colleague, Patricia Bailey of Homewood High School, were instrumental in "formalizing" Lincoln-Douglas Debate into an event of clashing, flow-based position and arguments rather than, as some had lampooned it, an event of "dueling oratories." Like Dukes, Bailey was also a tremendously successful coach of national caliber. She coached one of the earliest NFL National Champions and had a semifinalist at the TOC during the tournament's first year hosting Lincoln-Douglas Debate. She coached champions of Bronx Science and Emory and a top speaker at St. Mark's. At home, Bailey also coached seven state champions.

Previous Winners of the Dukes & Bailey Cup

2009 — Jordan Lamothe, The Meadows School (Nevada)

2010 — Jordan Lamothe, The Meadows School (Nevada)

2011 — Steven Adler, Mercer Island High School (Washington)

2012 — Noah Star, Lexington High School (Massachusetts)

2013 — Rebecca Kuang, The Greenhill School (Texas)

2014 — Ram Prasad, La Jolla High School (California)

2015 — Arjun Tambe, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (California)

2016 — Bennett Eckert, The Greenhill School (Texas)

2017 — Evan Engel, Harvard-Westlake (California)

2018 — Brianna Aaron, Newark Science (New Jersey)

PUBLIC FORUM AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

Beginning in 2017, there will be a Public Forum equivalent to the Baker Cup and the Dukes & Bailey Cup. It has yet to be named, but will be awarded without a name for the moment. There will be a conversation (format yet to be determined) about the name, at a future date.